Settling out of/ into the Season

I slept 10 hours Friday night. I think the last time I slept 10 hours straight through was when I was maybe 7. The only reason Bill didn’t put a mirror under my nose to make sure I was still breathing was because he slept even longer than me.

Don’t know if it was the Thanksgiving festivities, the carb overload, or simply the need to catch up on some zzz’s since I had not been sleeping well in anticipation of our family gathering, but I woke up rested and ready to start the Christmas season.

Our Thanksgiving couldn’t have been better. It isn’t very often that all of our kids and grandkids can gather together since our daughter’s family lives far away in Vermont. The kids enjoyed playing together. It’s fun to see how they sort of pair off, come back together, and then pair off differently. At one point our 3-year-old granddaughter was playing with our 8-year-old grandson. Not sure how they made that work, but they seemed content.

We had amazing food at the Thanksgiving table. All the usual suspects were present, but because we had several people who eat gluten-free diets, there were doubles on some things – i.e. pumpkin pie, dressing, green bean casserole. I don’t think anyone went away hungry.

I must say, however, that the carb overload has definitely made me aware of eating a bit healthier this week. We started last night with roasted chicken wings. I don’t really have a recipe for this. I simply take whole chicken wings, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and

either grill them for about 15 minutes per side, or bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turn them over and bake them 25-30 more minutes. I do absolutely nothing else. No hot sauce. No butter. I think they’re delicious.

I’m ready to dive into Christmas joy! While I didn’t partake in Black Friday festivities (my sister and I went geocaching instead), I will be online at Amazon tomorrow with a kajillion others.

Bleu Cheese Dressing (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients
2-1/2 oz. bleu cheese
3 T. buttermilk
3 T. sour cream
2 T. mayo
2 t. white wine vinegar
¼ t. sugar
1/8 t. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Process
In a small bowl, mash cheese and buttermilk together with a fork until mixture resembles large curd cottage cheese. Stir in sour cream, mayo, vinegar, sugar, and garlic powder until well-blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Nana’s Notes: I use light sour cream and olive oil mayonnaise, so my bleu cheese dressing is fairly healthy. I started my healthy-eating week off right!